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Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest
The Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest is a branch of the Cygnaran military made up exclusively of gun mages trained to serve their nation. Arcane Tempest members serve alongside the other service branches of the army, providing fire support on the battlefields of Immoren. Once a cabal of arcanists who came together in the early days of the gun mage’s craft, this organization was soon inducted as a true branch of the Cygnaran Army. Since then, the Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest has become an exceedingly professional and disciplined fighting force.Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy RPG: Kings, Nations, and Gods History The roots of the arcane tempest lie in a small cabal called the Brothers of the Tempest created in 515 AR. This brotherhood included a number of sorcerers who had risen to officer ranks after instruction at the Strategic Academy, and became a loosely organized and secretive fellowship sharing techniques and honing their skills. They were not organized to fill a battlefield role, however, but comprised of wealthy pistoleers and arcane enthusiasts. Just five years into the reign of Vinter IV in 581 AR, an ugly public tide was rising against sorcerers in the kingdom, with the king as one of the most outspoken. Then Warmaster General, Carston Laddermore, Archduke of the Midlunds and Chancellor of the Strategic Academy, Theodore Townsend felt it was crucial to protect military assets from this tide of sentiment, in particular to shield budding warcasters, a talent which most often arose among those born with sorcery. The Warmaster had friends among officers of the old Brotherhood of the Tempest and witnessed their effectiveness first hand. By his encouragement, a new branch of the Strategic Academy was created to shield these soldiers from King Vinter’s budding Inquisition. Thus Tempest Academy was created to transition and legitimize the old secretive Brotherhood into the Militant Order of the Arcane Tempest.No Quarter #06 The Strategic Academy devoted resources to solve the problem of gun mages burning through regular pistols by the use of their powers, the only stop-gap measure being the use of reinforcement runes to extend the life of a pistol. The solution was discovered among the Rhulfolk and on contract from the Strategic Academy, magelock pistols were invented at the Ironhead Conclave in 583 AR using a special Rhulic alloy, and began being widely distributed to the Order of the Arcane Tempest by 585 AR. As the inquisition became more powerful sorcerer in the kingdom were pushed to enlist in the military, as it was the only option to avoid being executed as a witch. As a result the Strategic Academies in both Point Bourne and Caspia were flooded with applicants and Chancellor Townsend did what he could to encourage the Academy to serve as a shelter for patriotic sorcerers, protecting them from the Inquisition and strengthening the growing Order of the Arcane Tempest.King Vinter was never impressed with these mages, considering them a waste of resources. It wasn’t until after the coup and the crowning of King Leto in 594 AR that the Arcane Tempest would fully come into its own to exercise their power on the battlefield. Entry into the Tempest Academy remains open to all sorcerers whose arcane talents show a promising affinity with pistols. While some of these gun mages arise from the military the Academy also recruits those born with this talent from the populace at large, as long as they show the requisite patriotism. Those inducted into the Academy under go months of training to bend their raw arcane powers into a weapon and learn to wield it in concert with others of their kind. Only those who survive these trials and take up the magelock pistol can carry the name of the Arcane Tempest.No Quarter #16 References Category:Cygnar Category:Organisations